Don’t Settle For Walkin’, Just Do It

As if we were ever in any doubt, considering the fact that he stopped A Tribe Called Quest making any money from their most successful track, it seems that Lou Reed was also willing to sample his own work for ads.

Not only that, he even starred in an ad. And it’s really quite good.

Apparently, according to a book quoted in AdAge, this Lou Reed ad was to lead, ultimately, to W&K winning the Nike Michael Jordan business…

[W&K] came up with something quite original, an offbeat, grainy commercial showing Lou Reed on his Honda, cut to his song “Walk on the Wild Side.” It was tough to say whether it was shot by the most skilled professional or the rankest amateur, but it was hip and oddly compelling, in part because the scooter message was pitched only at the last minute.

And that led to this..

Which, one could argue, helped set both companies on the trajectory to where they are today. Not a bad achievement for Reed, to rank alongside the (actually quite reasonable) claim that he was responsible for the most influential album in rock history:

it’s hard to think of another record that altered the sound and vocabulary of rock so dramatically, that shifted its parameters so far at a stroke.